Paneau: capital city of Dalon
Dalon Medical Center
5.5 APC
Swaying in place and dazed from her apparent injury, Ri lowered and powered down her saber as Rech approached her, carefully inspecting her bleeding nose as he steadied her by her shoulders. "Ri, what happened!"
She was breathing heavily from some kind of exertion, but she was very slow to respond. "He's gone... I fought him off."
Still on high alert behind them, Koril could hardly keep a haunted tone out of his voice. "He who? Who did this?"
Ri continued to sag in posture as her adrenalin rush ebbed, prompting Rech to ease her over to a chair to sit as he lifted her face up to him with a hand under her chin. "I don't know," she answered Koril hazily. "He was...very strong... A Kel Dor. I've never seen him before."
As Elena stepped over to the children, gathering them both up into her arms, Cordira sobbed quietly in Elena's hold opposite Derek. Her voice was so faint, it was almost inaudible. "It was the Scary Man..."
Stunned, Rech could hardly breathe as he turned to look at Cordira, putting it together. "You saw him, didn't you? Just before I left earlier?"
Tightening her arms around Elena's neck, Cordira nodded, still softly crying, and the realization tore at Rech's heart as he returned to the princess. "Ri...you just foiled a kidnapping."
Ri nodded weakly, having come to the same conclusion herself. "He was focused on the children when I came in. He had already killed the nurse..." As she watched a few guards respectfully covering the lifeless nurse with a sheet, she sighed with frustration and vainly brushed the back of her hand across her chin, clearing some of her blood from it. "I should have fought him harder. I should've stopped him..."
But Rech shook his head to dismiss her guilt, lightly placing his hand on the side of her face to begin healing her. "No, you did enough. I'm just glad you're okay."
Still standing just behind him with the children, Elena's voice quivered noticeably. "...Rech?"
He looked back to Elena in time to watch Koril and some of his guards leave the room quickly, presumably to track the would-be abductor. Still, before he could control it, a heavy, dark anger rolled through his thoughts for what Koril had done to Mand just minutes earlier. Addressing Elena's concerns was more pressing, though, so he released a shaky breath to subdue his feelings for the moment.
"Cordira's been having nightmares for a while now," he began quietly, and Elena quickly picked up on his meaning.
"Nightmares? Like what Mand used to have?"
Rech nodded solemnly. "She's seen this man before, in visions. She was trying to tell me...earlier, before...before Koril..."
He couldn't bring himself to explain it to Elena for some reason, perhaps because of their two children still present. The young ones had been traumatized enough for one day; he didn't need to verbally recount it all in front of them and force them to relive it.
Though she remained unaware of Koril's actions, Elena struggled to respond to Rech's revelation. She seemed more haunted by the thought that her son had very nearly been taken, that it had been foreseen...and that Rech and Koril's altercation had almost allowed it to take place. Before Elena could inquire further, though, Master Kanomin and Master Rylka both stepped into the room with urgency, surveying the scene with alarm. Still unwilling to mention the fight in front of the children, he intentionally directed their attention elsewhere for the time being.
"Someone attempted to kidnap the children, but Ri was able to thwart it. Master Rylka, could you take over helping to heal her broken nose? I need to check on Mand."
Thankfully, Master Rylka quickly agreed without asking questions, carefully tending to Ri as Rech left her side. Just as he stepped over to Mand, though, Elena spoke up once more, and her voice sounded even more emotional than before.
"Rech...I can't allow the children to stay here."
As he turned to her again, he could see her patent fear for their kids; she wasn't hiding much at all. But she was also visibly torn and conflicted, knowing that she had just confessed to Rech, in the presence of the two Jedi Masters, that she couldn't trust him to protect the children...and if he was honest with himself, he couldn't blame her. As he nodded, he took in a slow breath to quell his own worry, though to little avail.
"Where do you think they will be safest? The Manor?"
Considering it a moment, she shook her head, holding Derek more tightly to herself. "The Retreat."
He agreed, knowing that the Rys'tihn Retreat was the better choice. The Manor was situated near the busy capital city's borders, and the Retreat was easier to protect in its remote, isolated location. Though its security measures were much less visible in the serene mountainside setting, they were stealthier, and the whole compound was protected by covert agents and Elite Royal Guards alike. Still, the journey there could be the most dangerous, leaving him with an unsettled feeling.
"Master Kanomin...would you..."
Before he found the strength to finish his words, Master Kanomin was already nodding to accept his request. "Yes, I will accompany them there." She looked to Master Rylka and nodded, seeming to silently communicate with her so the Twi'lek remained undisturbed while still concentrating on healing Ri. Though he stayed at Mand's side, he held his hand out to Elena with Cordira to say goodbye to his daughter. Before Elena could step toward him, though, Cordira cried out, immediately tightening her hold around Elena's neck and shaking her head as she turned her head away from him. Completely unprepared for it, her reaction stole his breath; his heart seared fiercely with the knowledge that he had let her down, devastating her and inadvertently betraying the trust she had in him for her protection. As much as it hurt, he nodded after a long moment and lowered his hand, looking to Elena who seemed equally as disappointed.
"You take care of Mand," she told him curtly as she turned to leave. "I'll make sure the children stay safe."
"Elena..."
But she had already stepped out of the room with a Royal Guard escort, leaving Master Kanomin to give him an apologetic yet sympathetic look before she, too, quietly followed after Elena.
Paneau: capital city of Dalon
Rys'tihn Manor
Standing at the end of the Celestia's lowered rear ramp, Elena stared out the hangar's yawning boundaries into the deepening twilight sky that surrounded her home. She was flanked by Royal Guards from the Manor, and though they were facing the same direction as she, they were on high alert and were thankfully leaving her to process her thoughts in silence. Minutes seemed to have dragged on for hours since the attack that morning, making the day seem that much longer, but at least it was finally coming to a close. The promise of sleep offered little relief, though, as she knew she would be getting little herself, worried instead about her children and the dangerous man who could be following them...
Why was someone after them? Was it simply a random, opportunistic strike once Rech, Koril, and the Royal Guards had left the room unsecured? Or had this Kel Dor sought them out and just happened to attack when the children were alone? What would have happened had Ri not intervened just in the nick of time? And how did that disaster at the Academy fit into all this? Surely it wasn't related to the kidnapping attempt, was it?
Shaking the thought from her head, she glanced back toward the hangar's entrance from the Manor just as Kaydee stepped up beside her.
"Mistress Elena, are you alright?"
She gave the protocol droid a hesitant nod, hopefully keeping her heavy internal turmoil out of her tone. "Yes, Kaydee, I'm fine."
Kaydee didn't seem to notice. "Pardon my intrusion, but might I travel with you and the children, Mistress Elena? They are familiar with my presence, and I am happy to provide a distraction for them while they are being taken someplace they do not know well."
Surprised by the droid's unsolicited wisdom, she gave a small smile as she nodded again. "I would appreciate that. Thank you, Kaydee."
Kaydee bowed slightly as she accepted her duties and stepped aboard the Celestia, but Master Kanomin was quick to take the droid's place, returning Elena's expression to its previous worry. Where Kaydee would immediately voice her queries aloud without inhibition, Master Kanomin needed no words to ask Elena what was on her mind.
She was, however, reluctant to answer the petite Jedi Master's silent question. Master Kanomin would have already deduced that Elena's primary concern was for the well-being of her children, but the sympathetic look in her eyes meant she knew there was something else troubling her, something Elena hadn't yet dared to speculate about...
Even as quietly as she spoke, her voice still trembled. "I don't know what happened, Master...what Koril did..."
Master Kanomin's eyes softened with understanding. "Nor do I," she answered just as gently. She took in and released a slow breath, glancing behind herself at the doorway to the Manor where Kollie and Raen were returning with the young ones in their arms and traveling bags at their sides. Though Dirani was fast asleep in Kollie's hold, neither Derek nor Cordira looked tired as they walked with their nannies, despite the late hour of the evening; their eyes remained full of fear and sadness instead. "But it would appear...that the children do."
Stunned, Elena could hardly keep her volume low. "I am not asking them, not after all they've been through today."
But Master Kanomin was undeterred. "They would give you an honest answer. Would Rech? Would your husband?"
In all the years Elena had known Master Kanomin, she would have never expected the Jedi Master to be so...heartless in such an emotional situation; she could easily feel her cheeks flushing with embarrassment and rising frustration. "I'm not going to force them to pit their fathers against each other. They don't need to be in the middle of this."
Master Kanomin's eyes sharpened, intensifying in light warning, but her voice remained soft. "They already are."
As Kollie and Raen reached the two Jedi, Master Kanomin silently stepped aside to allow them to board the Celestia, and after holding Elena's gaze a long moment, she followed them inside, as well.
As much as Elena was determined to remain angry with Master Kanomin for her sudden, uncharacteristic lack of compassion...in the back of her mind, she knew the elder Jedi had a point. But even though she desperately sought answers about what had happened, the emotional state of the children was far more important to her at the moment, especially as they recovered from the trauma of a near-kidnapping. Cordira had remained especially upset, as she had been plagued by visions of the attempt and remained terrified that it would play out a second time. Was she the target? Was Derek? Or were they both?
Interrupting the silence that had returned, one of the guards' comlinks beeped, preceding the roar of a ship's engines as it approached the hangar.
"High Commander Rys'tihn arriving in the Manor's main hangar," an unfamiliar voice announced over the comm, bringing another group of guards from inside the Manor to meet him. A smaller shuttle swooped in and landed gracefully just beside the Celestia, and though Elena heard Master Kanomin's words reverberating in her thoughts, that she wouldn't get an honest answer out of Koril, she stood in place at the end of the yacht's ramp to talk to him anyway.
Only two guards stepped out of the shuttle ahead of their High Commander, but Elena was surprised to see Major Jax follow along behind him, expecting him to have remained with his recovering daughter in the med center. He was loyal to his duty to a fault, she knew, and perhaps he thought his High Commander needed him more urgently. Even more worried, she returned her focus to Koril's expression, studying him as they approached. He seemed...calm, albeit confused as he watched her in turn, but she could tell before he even spoke that something wasn't quite right with him. She hoped it wasn't a repeat of what he had gone through before she returned from Montar months ago... She wasn't losing him again, was she?
"Did you find the Kel Dor?"
The look in Koril's eyes remained uncertain, prompting Major Jax to answer for him as he stepped up beside him. "Not yet, m'lady, but the search is ongoing. We'll catch him."
She nodded to Jax, appreciating his assistance, but returning to Koril, she felt her hands beginning to tremble the longer he remained silent. His gaze shifted to focus on the ship's occupants behind her, and he finally found his voice to speak.
"They said you were leaving."
The fear she detected in his voice, however slight it was, pained her deeply, and though it was more of a statement than a question, she still felt compelled to answer him.
"I'm taking the children to the Retreat."
With her words, his expression visibly faltered, reflecting the shock that had suddenly brought clarity to his eyes. He seemed to immediately understand what her decision implied, and the first expression of shame she had seen from him, he lowered his gaze to the floor, his brows furrowed with conflict. Her heart ached to comfort him, and though she could easily sense his pain, she couldn't bring herself to move, nor could she ask him what he had done...
"Don't take the ship," he managed weakly, still looking down. "He could follow you. Take the Retreat tunnels."
She had intended to fly there to minimize the strain of travel on the children...but he was right; they would be virtually impossible to follow through the underground kilometers-long passageways that connected the Rys'tihn Manor to the Retreat. Despite his obvious regret for whatever he had done to Mand and the argument he had with Rech, he was still able to think clearly enough about the safety of his family to suggest the change in her plans. She swallowed hard after a moment, nodding slightly as she glanced at Major Jax, but she couldn't keep her voice steady as she turned her head to address the others in the Celestia.
"Kollie, Raen...we're going the long way."
She heard them shuffling through the cabin, collecting their bags and other belongings they had prepared to take, and as they all gathered on the ramp behind her, she wordlessly stepped away from Koril, leading them toward a nearby tunnel entrance. He said nothing as she left, and it took all of her willpower to not look back as she continued walking...
"Elena..."
Though she had ignored Rech's call in the same manner earlier, she was easily swayed by the subtle pleading tone in Koril's voice. She slowed to a stop, sidestepping to allow the others to continue on toward the tunnels without her. As she turned to face him once more, she watched as he opened his mouth to speak...but he made no sound. Was he going to explain himself or apologize, and couldn't find the right way to say it? Or had he changed his mind and was going to order her to stay? His lips continued moving to partially form words, but he still was unable to say anything. Despite a desperate look that had begun to form in his eyes, Elena took in a deep breath as she turned around again, refusing to blink as tears began building in her own eyes.
Paneau: remote Naeron Mountains
Rys'tihn Retreat
Though the trip from the Manor to the Retreat via an underground tram had taken the better part of an hour, Master Kanomin had remained silent at Elena's side. Actually, none of the travelers had spoken a word, Elena realized as they all began climbing the steps to the Retreat; Kaydee had even managed to keep her usual vocal thoughts to herself, which was unusual. Perhaps the droid had picked up on their collective sullen mood without being informed of such, a first for the social and always amiable Rys'tihn Family servant. Whatever the reason, Elena was silently thankful for it, hoping it continued for the duration of their stay at the Retreat.
Cradling Dirani against her shoulder as she slept, Elena reached the last step and pulled her Rys'tihn Crest over her head, pressing the pendant against a sensor built into the wall. The door quietly swept open, allowing them passage into one of the Retreat's main hallways where a group of workers awaited them.
"M'lady," Witt Larkan, the Retreat's staff leader, greeted her with a gentle bow. "The upstairs bedrooms are prepared and ready for the children."
"Thank you, Witt," she nodded, turning to watch the other three women step into the hallway with Kaydee behind them. Master Kanomin held Cordira's hand at her side, and Kollie had gathered a sleepier Derek into her arms, leaving Raen empty-handed to take Dirani from her. "Please get them settled into bed," she asked them, lightly kissing Dirani on the forehead as she woke with movement. "I'll be up to check on them later."
Raen carefully situated Dirani in her hold, lightly rocking the girl back to sleep as the three and Kaydee agreed and followed Larkan up to the bedrooms for the night. She watched them leave with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that left her even more unsettled than she had been earlier. It was as though something was telling her that although they were safely sequestered in the fortress-like security of the Retreat, somehow danger remained, locking her senses in a dense haze...
"Elena?"
Startled by being addressed by her first name, she turned to see Garran approaching her in the hallway, a thick stack of data pads in his arms. He gave her a weak smile when she met his gaze, but it faded quickly as he studied her face; she gave him an even smaller smile in return.
"Garran, I'm glad you're still up."
Glancing between the rest of the Retreat staff that remained around Elena, his voice softened. "I was just heading to bed. Is...everything alright?"
She released a shaky sigh, extending her hand to direct him toward the main gathering room ahead. "Let's sit down and talk." With a gracious nod, she dismissed the staff who seemed to be expecting an order from her, and once they left, she and Garran sat in the very same places they had taken mere days ago.
"Garran," she began carefully as he unloaded his arms onto a table in front of them, "...I need you to stay indoors for now."
Although confused, he nodded. "Okay..." As she expected, his curiosity quickly took over. "What happened today? Cade left this morning and hasn't been back since. The entire staff has been very...quiet, and they won't tell me anything."
Taking in a slow breath, she steeled her nerves for a concise summary of the day's events. "There was an attack at the school this morning. A ship crashed into one of the buildings, and we still don't know if it was intentional or not. Then while we were all at the medical center...someone tried to kidnap the children. I brought them here because they will be safe here. You will be safe here, too, but like I said, I need you to stay inside."
Despite looking slightly haunted, Garran nodded to accept her order after a moment, thinking through everything she had said. "Those were your children?"
"Two of the three. The red-haired girl, Cordira, is our friends' daughter. Derek and Dirani are mine."
Again he nodded, his expression softening. "I'm sorry... I'll try to look after them while they're here."
His innocence and genuine willingness to help warmed her heart, making her smile once more. "I appreciate that...but I really just want you to look after yourself right now. I don't think there's any particular threat to you specifically...but I just want you to be careful, okay? Can you do that for me?"
"Of course."
Gripping his shoulder as an expression of her gratitude, she nodded as she slowly stood from his side. "I'll be back later. I need to talk to...Cade..." She had only just been able to stop herself from mentioning their relationship, but thankfully Garran didn't seem to notice. He only looked reticent for being unable to provide more information.
"I don't know where he went..."
She gave him a reassuring look to dismiss his regret as she began to leave. "I think I do."